Fair enough :good I had a flick through your RBR thread and there were a few saying it a close fight, as many as said it was wide as you did. IMO your 98-92 card is as bad as 96-94 for Theophane. I really can't see how you think the cleaner work was done by Rodriguez. The rounds he won was pretty much on workrate alone. He didn't land a telling shot until the 9th really. Far from a robbery.
The closest anyone in the thread had it was one person who turned up a draw (had Rodriguez up a point going into the tenth, which everybody agrees he lost being so bedraggled).
Well, "cleaner" doesn't necessarily equate to "squeaky clean". :yep I was more impressed with the consistency of the 1-2 (although even that wasn't landing every time, and in later rounds was whizzing right by the ducking/charging Brit) than with the windmill overhands and lunging hooks of Theophane. Ashley's own jab did come into play some ways into the fight, but due to the reach disparity he was never able to command with it for any stretch, and even according to the stats that had Rodriguez landing only 13% he still landed more just by throwing such a greater volume. The first six were an undeniable clean sweep for Rodriguez IMO. I didn't feel Delvin did enough in the 8th and 10th to counteract the swarm-and-dodge activity of Ashley. Teddy Atlas gave round 7 to Theophane, and while it was a close one I recall Rodriguez winning more of it (in terms of time) despite getting his head snapped hard by a couple of unseen crossfire bursts. One could also, I suppose, make a case for the 9th - being that it is sandwiched between the other two rounds Theophane won on my card and Rodriguez was no less tired. He just seemed to surge a bit and land a couple more right hands that edged it out, which were absent in the 8th and 10th. So 6 rounds to 4 is an argument I could certainly entertain with no reservations. 1-6 were pretty clear for DR, and 8 & 10 pretty clear for AT. How one turns up a draw or 6-4 for At is beyond my reckoning.
Many have made the point that in this instance, as in past dodgy decisions (with this growing legend of misadventures, he's like the new welterweight version of Glen Johnson or Emanuel Augustus ) - Delvin only has himself to blame for being far too technical and not aggressive enough to really go for it. That's probably a fair point. If you've got pop, use it - take it out of the judges' hands. He's also got a pattern of fading late. It's safe to call him a bit of a front-runner; so full 10 or 12 round stamina would be an area of physical improvement to add to the mental hurdle he needs to leap to become more of a fighter than a lackadaisical boxer. None of that changes the fact that on the ten-point must system, regardless of the exact scoring (from 98-92 to 96-94 is all a fair range), he deserved this win every bit as much as he deserved the one over Jackiewicz (or in at least one if not both Hlatschwayo matches).
I had Theophane winning 2 of the first 6....rounds 2 and 4 I believe, there were a couple very close rounds in the first 6. I think its very harsh on Ashley having him lose the first 6 rounds. I think only you and Teddy had Delvin winning the first 6